Asian markets hammered, gold hits record high

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets were hammered, with South Korea’s Kospi plunging more than 5% as investors off-loaded riskier assets following the overnight tumble at Wall Street on poor economic and jobs data.

Growing fears the US economy was sliding into recession and as some European lenders faced short-term funding strains, raising fears of a systemic banking crisis on the continent sent crude oil prices down and gold soaring to a new record high.

The FBM KLCI fell 18.53 points to 1,484.77 at the mid-day break, weighed by losses including at CIMB, Genting, MISC and Petronas Chemicals.

Losers thumped gainers by 592 to 94, while 185 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 432.55 million shares valued at RM912.44 million.

The ringgit fell 0.10% to 2.9846 versus the US dollar; crude palm oil eased RM11 per tonne to RM3,015, crude oil fell US$1.19 per barrel to US$81.19 while gold jumped US$16.15 an ounce to US$1,839.95.

Spot gold had earlier risen more than 1% to an all-time high of $1,844.55 an ounce, according to Reuters.

At the regional markets, South Korea’s Kospi fell 5.28% to 1,762.39, Taiwan’s Taiex lost 3.38% to 7,357.32, Singapore’s Straits Times down 2.64% to 2,750.29, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.38% to 19,540.60, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.83% to 8,780.52 and the Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.33% to 2,525.55.

On Bursa Malaysia, PPB fell 36 sen to RM17.14, LPI Capital 28 sen to RM13, NPC 27 sen to RM1.93, UMW 26 sen to RM7.19, Top Glove 23 sen to RM4.95, MISC and Petronas Chemicals 20 sen each to RM7.10 and RM6.38, Genting 19 sen to RM9.79, while Allianz and CIMB fell 18 sen each to RM4.68 and RM7.97.

Petronas Chemicals was the most actively traded counter with 13.95 million shares done.

Other actives included MAA, Dialog, Axiata, CIMB, AirAsia, HWGB, Karambunai and MAS.

Meanwhile, gainers included Dutch Lady, Nestle, BLD PLANTATION []s, BRDB, Utusan, Southern Acids, DiGi and HELP